1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for notification of changes in the status of an image processing apparatus to a client apparatus via a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
General users who use network printers for the purpose of printing have a desire to learn the status of the printers that they are using. A predominant method by which users can learn printer status is to obtain the printer status using a printer driver or utility software. On the other hand, much of the major network printer management software has a function for notifying the user of the printer status by email.
Also, attention has been paid to Really Simple Syndication (RSS) technology as a new printer status notification method that replaces email. RSS is a general term that encompasses several document formats for delivering headlines, summaries and links provided on website articles. On the website side, RSS data is generated based on headlines, summaries, links, etc. provided on web page articles. As used herein, RSS data is a source written in an XML-based RSS format. There are several versions of RSS format, including RSS 0.91, RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0, Atom, etc.
The client side can receive website update information using an application called an “RSS reader”. The RSS reader periodically downloads registered RSS data to obtain the update information, and displays the update information on the screen. If a link is provided on the web page, the user can jump to the web page containing the article.
With this RSS technology, users feel as if information is delivered from websites. This brings about a benefit to the users in that they can efficiently browse only web pages in which they are interested from among a huge number of HTML pages.
Printers with a function for providing the status of a plurality of printers to users in the form of RSS format data using the above-described RSS technology are being proposed these days (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-209056). According to this proposal, a printer generates an HTML page indicating the printer status, and then generates RSS data containing the headline, summary and links on the generated page. A user who receives the notification registers the URL of the RSS data with the RSS reader installed on a client PC.
With this configuration, the user can readily learn the content of a status change of the printer by using a web browser program. In addition, because the content to be notified is written in an RSS format that is an XML-based generic format, there is an advantage that the restrictions on notification content do not depend on implementations except when RSS data is generated.
However, the conventional method described above has the following problems. In the case of obtaining the printer status using a printer driver or utility software, obtainable printer status information depends on the installed printer driver or utility software.
In addition, in the case of email notification by a printer management apparatus, an email program needs to be installed in the environment of client computers to which notifications are provided. Furthermore, in a situation in which one user uses multiple PCs, a PC that has received an email does not necessarily have an environment in which the printer is set up.
Moreover, in the case of the printer status notification using RSS data generated by the printer, the user needs to manually register RSS feeds with the RSS reader for each printer used by the user. If the number of printers used is large, this complicated procedure will place a burden on the user.